Abstract
This study analyzed meaning attributions regarding “family” and “chosen family” by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, Transgender, Gender Queer, Queer, Intersex, Agender, Asexual, and other Queer-identifying community (LGBTQ+) refugees. The meaning and significance of a chosen family in the newly established life of the refugees was also pin-pointed for its value of safekeeping the wellbeing and settlement process. We analyzed narrative statements given by 67 LGBTQ+ refugees from 82 YouTube videos. Using InfraNodus, a text graph analysis tool, we identified pathways for meaning circulation within the narrative data, and generated a contextualized meaning for family and chosen family. The conceptualization process produced a deduction within family relationships, exploring why people, other than in biological relationships, appear to be vital in their overall wellbeing and settlement, as well as the process through which this occurs. Biological family is sometimes associated with words that instigate fear, danger, and insecurity, while the concept of chosen family is associated with words like trusting, like-minded, understanding, welcoming, loving, committed, etc. The results of the study are intended to add knowledge to the gap by showing the types and characteristics of family relationships in LGBTQ+ refugee settings. It is also a call for the relevant research community to produce more evidence in such settings, as this is essential for obtaining a better understanding of these issues.
Highlights
This study, in a totally data driven fashion, conceptualized the meaning attributed to family and chosen family through the narrations of a number of LGBTQ+
The meaning circulation analysis in the form of text network analysis produced an intricate, but single, concept of what family or chosen families mean to LGBTQ+ refugees
The conceptualization fashioned an ideal deduction within family relationships, exploring why people other than biological relationship appear vital in their overall wellbeing and settlement, and the process through which it occurs
Summary
The nuclear family is traditionally defined in a way that excludes Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, Transgender, Gender Queer, Queer, Intersex, Agender, Asexual, and other Queer-identifying community (LGBTQ+) family members. There might be a natural tendency to want to maintain their relationship with their family while expressing their sexual identity, it is common for most families to resort to disowning as a result of culturally held beliefs. These exclusions, on many occasions, have led many LGBTQ+ people to seek “alternative families” or “families of choice” that offer them the love and security that they did not receive from their biological families [4]
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